Improvement in water-wheels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROSWELL It. BROOKS, OF WEEDSPORT, NEW YpRK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND Gr. H. HORTON, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4 1,567, dated February 9, 1864.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, RoswELL R. BROOKS,

of Weedsport,'in the county of Cayuga and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Water-Wheel and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eX act description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in whichl Figure l is a vertical central section of my invention, taken in the line ww, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line y y, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a new and improved water-wheel of that class in which the wheel is placed on a vertical shaft inclosed within a scroll, and the water discharged at the outer part of the wheel, instead of at the center.

The invention consists in a peculiar combination of dividing scroll and gate, hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the scroll in which the wheel is placed and runs. This scroll may be constructed of either wood or metal and of the usual form, and it is supported by columns having a spider or three radial arms, aa a, attached to their lower ends. At the junction of these arms there is an adjustable step, b, on which the lower end of the wheel-shaft B rests.

Within the scroll A there is placed a partition-plate, O, which is of curved form and so placed within the scroll A as to divide the latter into two compartments, c c', which communicate with the wheel D at two opposite sides of it, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. Within the scroll at its mouth or orifice there is also placed a gate, E, hung o n a vertical shaft, F. This gate when open is in line with the partition-plate G and forms a continuation of the same, as shown clearly in Fig. 2.

The gate-shaft F extends up through the top plate of the scroll, and has a handle or lever, G, attached to it, by which the gate is opened and closed, said shaft F passing up through a stuffing-box, H, on the top of the scroll.

The wheel D is formed of a hollow cylinder, d, attached to the shaft B by horizontal arms e at the top and bottom of the cylinder. On the exterior of this cylinder d are the buckets I, which are composed of three different surfacesto wit, a vertical surface, f, acurved surface, g,and aninclined surface, lz-as shown in Figs. l andk3. The vertical surfaces f have a tangential position with the cylinder d, and they are straight or are planes the greater portion of their length, their outer parts being curved, as shown at f in Fig. 2. The curved surfaces g form a connection between the vertical surfaces fand the inclined surfaces h, the latter having sides It attached to them at their outer edges while the lower part ofthe cylinder e is notched or cut so as to form sides It at the inner edges of the inclined surfaces h. The tops of the buckets I are covered by an annular plate, J', which extends all around the wheel.

K is a dome-shaped plate, which covers the wheel D and is screwed to the top of the scroll A, as shown in Fig. 1. The shaft B passes up through a stuffing-box, L, on the center of the plate K.

When the gate Eis open, the water that enters the scroll A is divided into two columns and passes through the compartments ce', and acts upon the wheel D at two opposite sides, as indicated by the red and black arrows. The water first acts by impact against the vertical surfaces j' of the buckets and then descends down the inclined surfaces h and is discharged. The outer curved parts f' of the surfaces f of the buckets retain or hold the water at the periphery of the wheel,while the sides h, at the outerfedges of the inclined surfaces h, keep the water on said surfaces so that the full benefit of the gravity ofthe same is obtained. The inclined surfaces L of the buckets, it will be seen, project below the scroll A, and hence the sides to said surfaces are indispensably necessary in order to obtain the full benefit of the gravity of the water as it passes down said surfaces. Without said sides much of the water would escape laterally from the wheel. The curved surfaces of the buckets cause the water to pass without interruption upon the inclined surfaces h.

By the use ofthe partition-plate C and gate E the water is divided into two separate columns or bodies to act upon the wheel at opofthe plate G, and will at other times AsimuL posite sides, and by the use of one gate only. taneously regulate the flow of the Water Having thus described my invention, what through both of the compartments c c', all as I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letset forth. ters Patent, is

The combination of the gate E with the ex- 'ROSWDLL R BROOKS' tremity of the partitionplate C in the man- Witnesses: ner herein shown and described, so that when A. W. SHURTLEFF, said gate is open it will form a continuation A. R. WILLEY. 

